[This post continues a series of notes on various authors on wealth and poverty in Christian ethics. Allen Verhey argues for a use of Scripture that 'remembers' the canonical writings and early Church when addressing ethical issues in contemporary contexts. Allen
Verhey, Remembering Jesus: Christian
Community, Scripture, and the Moral Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
2002).]
Verhey notes that the
political and economic situation change in the history covered by the Old Testament, with
the result that one finds different descriptions of justice. This might be expressed in the following
table (based on his description, pp. 258-262):
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Socio-Political Character
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Character-istics
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Biblical Source for Description of
Justice and ‘Remembering’
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Examples of Economic Justice
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Semi-Nomadic
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Abraham the wandering
Aramean; Israel in slavery in Egypt; Israel wandering in the wilderness
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Nobody owned the land
and flocks were owned by the extended family, so there were no rich or poor
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Agricultural
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Israel settling in
Canaan
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The Covenant Code of
Exodus 20.22-23.33
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Attempt to desacralise
agriculture (no fertility gods); reduction of some to slavery and women to
chattel (e.g., Ex. 21.1-11, 20f); protection of stranger (22.21; 23.9)
freeing of slaves (21.2), caring for widows and orphans (22.22-24), rest,
food and a hearing for the poor (23.6-8, 10-11, 12); protection for debtors
(22.25-27)—based on Israel’s story and God’s character.
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Urban and Monarchical
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Royal Court, standing
army
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Taxation and
conscription (1 Sam. 8.11-17); increased division between the wealthy and
poor, who mortgaged their lands and then became landless tenants or slaves;
king viewed as defender of the poor (Ps. 72) but often lived above the law
(e.g., Ahab confiscating Naboth’s vineyard, 1 Kgs. 21).
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Reform
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Rise of Prophets to
call for justice according to the covenant; King Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s
reforms
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Prophetic literature;
Deuteronomic Code (assuming urban culture: single sanctuary, Dt. 12.5, 11;
14.23f; 16.2, 6, 11; 26.2—contrast Ex. 20.24; conduct of kings, Dt. 17.14-20)
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1. Prophets denounced
wealth amidst poverty (Is. 3.16-26; Amos 4.1-3), dishonest and avaricious
merchants (Amos 8.4-6), selfish, heartless creditors (Amos 5.11), covetous
landowners (Is. 5.8; Mic. 2.1-4), venal judges (Is. 1.23; 3.13-15; Amos 5.7,
10, 12).
2. Development of
Covenant Code: furnish slaves liberally
upon their release in Jubilee (Dt. 15.12); not only release of slaves but also
of debts (Dt. 15.1-11); judicial
reforms (Dt. 16.20; 24.17), consumer protection (25.13-16—standardised
weights and measures); pay of day labourer at the end of the day (Dt.
24.14f); regulation of legal practises (Dt. 23.19-20; 24.6, 10-13, 17); laws
about gleaning (Dt. 23.24-25; 24.19-22) and gathering and distributing food
to the poor and dispossessed through a 2nd tithe every 3rd
year (Dt. 14.28f; 26.12-15).
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Verhey then turns to 'remember' the teaching on wealth, poverty, and economic justice in the New Testament.
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Remembering
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Jesus
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Eschatological Wisdom:
1.
Do not be anxious (Mt. 6.26, 28-30; Lk. 12.24,
27-28)
2.
Give (Lk. 6.35; 11.41; 12.32; 18.22)
3.
You always have the poor with you (Mt. 26.11; Mk.
14.7; Jn. 12.8)—reminding that Dt. 15.5’s vision is not yet a reality—the
poor will never cease out of the land (Dt. 15.11). This calls for an ongoing concern for the
poor in the community.
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Early Church
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Community of Goods in
Jerusalem
1.
Practised as a memory of Jesus’ teaching on care for
the poor (in Luke): shepherds visit Jesus in animal stall 2.8-20), parents
offered sacrifice of the poor (2.22), John the Baptist calls for people to
share in Lk. (3.10ff), Jesus preaches good news to the poor (4.16-21;
6.20ff), including in unique parables to Lk. (Good Samaritan, 10.25-37; Rich
Fool, 12.13-21; Great Banquet, 14.15-24; Rich Man and Lazarus, 16.19-31),
Zacchaeus’ example (19.1-9).
2.
Use of money is illustrative of human existence; in
Lk. it is a 'sign and symbol of one's response to … the kingdom' (282). Acts 4.34 ('not a needy person among them')
refers to Dt. 15.4. Lk. sees 'the
community created by the Spirit as a community of friends in an economic
world of patrons and clients' (283).
3.
This is more than illustrative (rather creative
fidelity to early Church) but not legislative, not a social program (see Luke Timothy Johnson [previous post]).
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Paul
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1.
The Lord's Table--koinonia at the Table, no rich and poor distinction.
2.
'Self-sufficiency' (a Stoic virtue)--Phl. 4.11f; cf.
1 Tim. 6.6-10; 1 Th. 4.11-12; 2 Th. 3.7-12)--is understood with reference to
Jesus ('humility', Phl. 4.12; community, 1 Th. 4.9; love, 2 Th. 3.12). Cf. Acts 20.35: more blessed to give…. Contribute to the needs of the poor, show
hospitality (Rom. 12.13; 16.23), generous giving (Rom. 12.4ff).
3.
The Collection (Gal. 2.9, 10; 1 Cor. 16.1-4; 2 Cor.
8-9). 'Equality' is the goal (2 Cor.
8.13f). Aristotle (NE 1131b31, 1157b36, 1158b29, 1162a35:
there are: equality of distributive justice, of rectification, of
friendship. Paul advocates the last of
these (p. 295).
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James
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Identification with the
poor (James 1.9-10). Some Christians
were wealthy, others poor (1.10; 4.10).
The 'rich' hoard wealth (5.2f; cf. Mt. 6.19f; Lk. 6.37; 12.33);
oppress labourers (5.4; cf. Lev. 19.13); live self-indulgently in luxury and
pleasure (5.5); are guilty of judicial murder of the righteous (=Jesus, p.
300) (5.6; cf. Acts 3.14; 7.52; 22.14).
But wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits, no partiality or
hypocrisy (3.17), cares for orphans and wodows (1.27), meets the poor's
bodily needs (2.15f), shows them hospitality (2.1-7), humbles oneself before
the Lord (4.10), resists the rich way of life (5.1-6), and endures the trials
of the rich's way of life (5.7-11) (300).
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Revelation
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The earth's kings,
great men, generals, rich and strong will be judged for not welcoming the
Lamb (6.15). Rome's fall involves such
a judgement (ch. 18).
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Pastoral Epistles
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1.
Contentment (1 Tim. 6.6-10) is again affirmed, but
still not in an ascetic sense: moderation leads to contentment. It is not money but the love of money that
needs renouncing (1 Tim. 6.13-16), and generosity is called for from the rich
(6.17-18).
2.
'Caring for the poor is a communal
responsibility'--widows in particular (5.3-16). But families were first required to help
before the church, and only certain widows were to receive help.
Cf. Heb. 13.2, 5, 16
(practice hospitality, be content, share)
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Continuing Church
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1.
The Church did not make the Jerusalem Church's
practice a requirement, and they did not find a Biblical economic theory for
all times. Communities were engaged in
discourse on economic ethics, deliberating and discerning what to do in given
situations as they remembered Jesus and the early Church (p. 305). Their 'memory and hope formed a tradition
of generosity and justice' (p. 306).
2.
The tradition taught not to be anxious but trust in
God's good future, to be generous, and 'was embodied…in a variety of institutional
responses to the needs of the poor' (p. 307).
Justin Martyr: there was a common fund administered by the president
to help the orphans, widows, poor, imprisoned, strangers, others (1st Apology, 67.5-6). Tertullian: the fund also helped feed and
bury the poor (Apology
39.5-7). Cornelius: the fund in Rome
helped over 1500 people in poverty (Eus., HE,
6.43). Cyprian defended the Church by
attacking the empire's greed and failure to help the needy ('Treatise V, An
Address to Demetrianus'). Julian the
Apostate: to overthrow Christianity, it would be necessary to copy them in
hospitality to strangers, burying the poor, feeding the hungry, whether or
not Christian ('Epistle 22: To Arsacius, High-Priest of Galatia').
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Contemporary Church
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1.
Working for a living: Eph. 4.23f, 28. Honest work (not stealing, cheating,
swindling, charging excessive interest, misusing power in how credit is
extended or in how we hire and fire people, not abusing labourers (sweatshops,
child labour). Work to have something
to share with the needy.
2.
Congregations need to deliberate, in memory of
Jesus, about whether their life is a blessing on the poor (p. 315),
especially when thinking of spending money on themselves. The Lord's Table is a time to consider whether
the Church is practising koinonia,
sharing with the needy in its midst.
Generosity is a 'response to gift,' not the 'conceit of philanthropy'
(316). See Verhey's discussion of
mission and development (pp. 316f).
3.
Adam Smith trained us to 'focus on the creation of wealth,'
and this can be a way to help the poor.
Self-interest would create wealth, it would be regulated by unseen
providence resolving conflicts of interest for the common good, it would be
restrained by competition (over against the mercantilism of his day, which
licensed the monopolies of the wealthy, even giving them state support) (p.
326). But self-interest does not by
itself help the poor, and our vision needs to be corrected by remembering
Jesus' good news to the poor (p. 323).
Creation of wealth is only one goal; others include 'blessing the
poor, sustaining the quality of human life, and sustaining the finite
resources for the economic project'
(p. 323f). [The church's missionary task/s should be added to any
short list]
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